Satisfaction Brought Him Back
by Konstantya
Summary: Ishara gets a kitten. Lore is not amused. (Lore/Ishara. Based on a tumblr prompt, and—as usual—follows the relationship previously established in "Built Upon Sand" and "Castles.")


A/N: Original prompt, for the curious: _"we're not having a cat, they get hair everywhere!" Lore growls as he picks flying grey hairs off the pilot seat. Ishara continues to coo at the newborn, tender body, cat -clearly ignoring the android's vocalized complains._

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**Satisfaction Brought Him Back**

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"We're not having a cat—they get hair everywhere!" Lore growled as he picked flying grey fibers off the pilot's seat. Ishara continued to coo at the tender-bodied newborn, clearly ignoring the android's complaints.

"But they're so cute!" she countered, drawing the last syllable out into a saccharine, almost candy-coated sound. She rubbed her chin against the kitten's head. The damn thing had the nerve to start purring even _louder_. "And look, he likes to cuddle!" Her voice dropped accusingly. _"You_ never like to cuddle."

"I—!" He'd been about to irately say, _I do, too,_ but managed to cut himself off before the words could actually reach his vocal processor. (It probably had something to do with Juliana's eternal hesitancy around him, he figured, or the way Soong, himself, had rarely been known to do more than clap an approving hand on his shoulder. That he was a machine yet still seemed to crave physical companionship on some level was positively gear-grinding in its nonsensicalness.)

Angrily, he sat down. "Physical intimacy is irrelevant," he said. (Never mind the fact that—to date—he'd initiated 72.38% of their sexual encounters; if he wanted to, he could totally stop at any time. Totally.) "Besides, we already have one mouth to feed," he pointed out, giving her an irritated gesture. "We hardly need another."

Ishara shifted the kitten so that it laid against her chest and shot him a dry, sidelong look. "What, are you jealous?"

_Yes,_ he thought, trying to focus on the console readings in front of him, all the while hating himself for the emotion. Of course he was jealous. Jealous of his brother, and jealous of a kitten, and even jealous of Ishara, herself, sometimes, because she could seemingly content herself with orgasms and fluffy balls of fur. Because despite her issues with her sister, at least _she_ wasn't eaten up with existential angst all the time, wondering about her place in the universe and if there was something inherently wrong with her. It wasn't _fair_.

Something stirred, deep in his circuits, and suddenly he reached out and hauled her out of her chair and onto his lap. The kitten mewled, and Lore sullenly nuzzled his nose into her hair and against her neck. Didn't like to cuddle, his pasty, bioplast ass. "I don't like to share," he muttered.

Ishara relaxed with a wry laugh. Hell if he would ever admit to it, but sometimes it was nice, having someone around who knew him even halfway well. "If it's any consolation," she drawled, "he's a cat, not a Caitian; I'm still only going to be having sex with _you,_ you know."

"Good," he said. He pulled her closer, and the kitten blinked at him over her shoulder with wide yellow eyes. Goddamn it, but they _were_ pretty adorable for an organic being, weren't they? "No letting him under the covers with you when you sleep, though," he grumbled, talking to the cat as much as he was talking to her. "Boy needs to learn his place around here."

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A/N: TO EXPLAIN, despite my recently-posted M-rated fic involving these two (go read it if you missed it! /plug), I was still reeling with Lore/Ishara feels, and that (combined with a glass of wine this past Saturday night) made me throw out a call for prompts on my tumblr. Suffice it to say, I was not disappointed. XD I can't promise I'll get around to all of them (I got a lot more prompts than I expected?), but there's definitely at least one more on the horizon. So keep an eye out!

Hard to say if this falls into the same timeline as my other canon-flavored Lore/Ishara fics. Probably not, as I'm not too keen on the idea of having to include a cat in future fics. (And I love cats too much to just, like, kill it off or have them otherwise lose it, SO YEAH, THIS IS LIKE ITS OWN SEPARATE TIMELINE WHERE IT TURNS OUT THEY GET A CAT, OKAY? Headcanon that Lore teaches it to give high-fives, but also to pull its paw away at the last second, thus leaving any hypothetical human in the lurch. He probably considers this one of his greatest achievements, pfft.)

Also note that Lore kind of steals one of the Borg's catchphrases. Maybe this is foreshadowing or maybe it's just a shoutout. WHO KNOWS? (Answer: NOT ME, THAT'S FOR SURE.)

In other news, as I not only received the prompt but also wrote the fic while tipsy, I'm a little worried Ishara's a little out-of-character, compared to how I've written her before. But then, this is also my first time writing from Lore's perspective, and it turns out that despite all the sex these two get up to, they really do keep a hell of a lot to themselves. Part of me is like, "Would Ishara really coo so much over a kitten?" but then another part of me is like, "Pfft, who am I kidding? Of _course_ she would, if only because it would piss Lore off." Basically, this couple is tragic trash, and I love them.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and like I said, keep an eye out for at least one more fic in the next week or two!


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